First of all I would like to say this mansion is an important sample of 19th.century civil architecture and had lots of unluckiness. After a hard work of renovation and great efforts, the mansion is waitin for its visitors in a position as it was built in time. The renovation of the mansion had took 4 years and our guide is giving out more important information about it. Interesting memories of Selim Pasha’s life takes our interest as well as the beauty of the mansion. The slightly damaged areas of the mansions have not been touched so that we can understand how good the renovation was and complying with the original texture. The mansions seems to has 3 floors from outside, however it has 4 floors. It has a small interstage. The mansion has 2 portions; one reserved for men and the other for ladies. An interesting detail about the portion of the ladies is that it has more wide stairs which was planned for ladies with children, so that they could use the stairs more easily.

I would like to mention the owner of the mansion, Selim Sırrı Pasha’s life and I would connect the information of the mansion with these information. Selim Pasha who was born in Vidin was known with the nickname of Sırrı. Selim Pasha has worked for the Government office of Vidin as an officer. After a while he came to Istanbul in company with Hakkı Pasha, who was the governer of Vidin at that time, he had completed his education there and married the niece of Hakkı Pasha. The most interesting point to me was that he was appointed as the Public Way Travelling Auditor This duty took place in times of Ottoman and the first person to be appointed with this title is the owner of this mansion, Selim Sırrı Pasha. During this duty, he used to audit the highways of Rumelia, Anatoila as well as Syria. After his success at his position, he was appointed to Izmit as governor where he would construct this mansion.

The mansion is located on a high place. It can be said from this that, Selim Sırrı Pasha was made able to watch any event that could happen in the city and he was watching in case anything happens. The ones who had already been to Izmit knows that on both sides of the tracks there are lots of trees and these had been planted by the order of Selim Sırrı Pasha. Selim Sırrı Pasha made lots of highways to have been built in Izmit based on the duty of him.

When you visit the mansion you can also see the personal staff of Selim Sırrı Pasha however unfortunately the mansion has experienced so many fire cases that most of the stuff have disappeared already due to these fires. With the renovation, lots of materials have been placed into the mansion which makes you better understand of the time’s properties and culture.

All the trays, sugar case and tea glasses below part is covered with velvet in order to avoid the guests get irritated because of the sound they make. That’s one of the most interesting properties of the time which shows the kindness shown to the guests. Inner decoration of the mansion has been applied exactly the same as the original. During the times, it is believed that the inner decoration of the mansion is designed by the painters who came to decorate Dolmabahçe Palace.

Let’s have a look at the times when Sırrı Pasha’s duty of governor of Izmit. During the times when the French collage was being built, they took a French flag on the tower. Selim Sırrı Pasha has made the flag came to the half and he made the wall of the collage collapsed. After this, with the complaint of the French ambassador Selim Sırrı Pasha has been taken from duty. You can shee shortcuts from his life on the gravestone of him. You can visit this mansion accompanied by a guide in a fascinating way.

The mansion has been awarded with the award of “Historical Cities Union Application 2011” due to the application of renovation. I would recommend you to visit Selim Sırrı Pasha Mansion if you would like to make a historical trip and learn about the details of the time.

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